CONCURRENT VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE CHESTER STEP TEST AMONG ENDURANCE ATHLETES BY YIP CHO WAI 07009631 AN HONOURS PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND RECREATION MANAGEMENT (HONOURS) HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY APRIL 2010 HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY 23rd April, 2010 We hereby recommend that the Honours Project by Mr. Yip Cho Wai entitled “Concurrent validity and reliability of the Chester step test among endurance athletes” be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Physical Education And Recreation Management. _________________________ _____________________ Dr. Tom Kwok Keung Prof. Chow Bik Chu Chief Adviser Second Reader DECLARATION I hereby declare that this honours project “Concurrent validity and reliability of the Chester step test among endurance athletes” represents my own work and had not been previously submitted to this or other institution for a degree, diploma or other qualification. Citations from the other authors were listed in the references. _______________________ Yip Cho Wai Date: 23rd April, 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my chief advisor, Dr. Tom Kwok Keung for his professional and valuable advices and suggestions on the whole project. Besides, I would like to express my gratefulness to my second reader, Prof. Chow Bik Chu, for her opinion on this study. I would also like to give thanks to Mr. Binh Quach from Dr. Stephen Hui Centre for Physical Recreational and Wellness, for his guidelines on the using of laboratory equipments. Lastly, thank you for all subjects’ participation and their effort paid. _____________________________ Yip Cho Wai Department of Physical Education Hong Kong Baptist University Date: 23rd April, 2010 ABSTRACT The Chester step test (CST) is a submaximal test to assess cardiovascular fitness by many health sectors in community. However, there was no previous research related to the accuracy of the test among endurance athletes. So the study was aimed to examine firstly, the concurrent validity of the CST among endurance athletes, secondly the test-retest reliability of the CST. Nine endurance athletes (N = 9) who were the representative of the Hong Kong Baptist University team members, were selected to participate in this study. All subjects were asked to participate in the CST on two occasions and a treadmill maximal test. The reliability analysis (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.96) showed a reliability between test and re-test, and dependent t test indicated there was no significant mean difference (t(8)= -0.30 ; p > 0.05) between the result of CST on two occasions. The concurrent validity of the CST was examined between the result of treadmill maximal test and that of CST, the result showed there was no significant correlation between actual VO2max from treadmill maximal test and predicted VO2max from the Chester step test (r = 0.41, p > 0.05). The finding showed there was reliability between the test and re-test of CST, but the validity of the CST among endurance athletes was questioned. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION.........................................1 Statement of Problem..............................4 Purpose of the Study..............................6 Significance of the Study.........................6 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE.................................8 The importance of aerobic fitness.................8 Parameters for assessing aerobic fitness.........12 Explanation of the Chester step test and previous research............................14 Physiological traits of endurance athletes.........16 Summary..........................................17 Research Hypothesis..............................18 3. METHOD...............................................20 Subjects...........................................20 Procedure..........................................21 Research Design....................................21 Chester step test...............................22 Treadmill maximal test............................23 Definition of Terms..................................24 Data Analysis....................................... 28 Statistical Hypothesis...........................28 Delimitations....................................... 29 Limitations......................................... 30 4. ANALYSIS OF DATA......................................31 Results............................................. 31 The reliability of the CST.........................33 The concurrent validity of the CST ...............35 Discussion.......................................... 37 Concurrent validity of the CST in endurance athletes .....................38 Factors that affect the performance of the test.......................................39 Reliability of the CST............................44 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS...............................45 Summary of Results..................................45 Conclusion..........................................46 Recommendations for Further Study.....................47 REFERENCES............................................. 49 APPENDIX............................................... 53 A. Consent Form to Subjects...........................53 B. PAR-Q Form.......................................54 C. Data recording form (CST)..........................56 D. Data recording form (Treadmill maximal test)........57 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Physical characteristics of the endurance athletes (N=9)..........................32 2. Descriptive statistics of subjects’ performance in the VO2max test, CST1 and CST2 (N =9)...................................33 3. The reliability analysis result (N = 9).............34 4. The dependent t test of two CST (N = 9)...............34 5. Pearson’s correlation test between all subjects’ performance in the VO2max test and the CST2......................................35
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